It was all Sirius's fault
by SkinXLess
Summary: Takes place in seventh year. Sirius decides a celebration is in order, everyone gets drunk. Hilarity ensues. LilyXJames
1. Chapter 1

It was all Sirius's fault.

At least that's what Lily had decided on. After all, it had been the dark haired trouble maker who set the firewhiskey out, proposing a bit of celebration for the end of exams. It may have been Marlene who suggested a drinking game and it may have been Peter who suggested "Never Have I Ever"; but still, it was all Sirius's fault.

"Never have I ever?" James Potter had quipped from his chair across from the fire. "We're not fourth year, Wormtail."

"I think it's a rather nice idea." Lily remarked, glaring at the messy haired boy. She was perched on the window seat, a book in her lap. She could feel James's eyes on her as she shot Peter a small smile. James really shouldn't tease he poor boy, she'd thought.

"It's settled then!" Sirius had cheered, lifting the bottle in victory. His expression grew brighter as Marlene joined him in his cheering. Lily grinned, finding the excitement contagious.

James eyed the dark haired boy bitterly. "Oh?" He lifted one eyebrow, making Lily jealous (she'd always wanted to be able to do that).

"Well, you're not going to go against Lily." Sirius shrugged.

"He's got a point." Peter had chimed in. The small round boy scooted his chair up to the table that Sirius had set the bottle on, eyeing it greedily.

"It's not like that." Lily and James stated at the same time. Startled and embarrassed, she glanced over at him. The boy stared back at her, looking just as sheepish.

"James doesn't care about me anymore." Lily had clarified. She thought that it had been obvious since he had stated dating Angela Bones the week before. Apparently she was the only one who thought that. She looked from the blank faces of her friends to the blank face of the boy in question.

"Lily doesn't make my choices." James said, looking away. "But I'll play your stupid game anyway." He stood and, with an unreadable look in Lily's direction, made his way to the table. Lily placed her book to the side and followed suit, selecting the seat between Peter and Marlene. James waited until she sat down to take the seat at Peter's left.

"I'm going to run up and fetch Moony." Sirius said. The longhaired boy rose from his seat, gave James a look, and headed downstairs to the boys' dormitory. The silence in the empty common room reached uncomfortable heights; Marlene tapped her fingers on the table top. Each time her nails made contact with the wood surface James had flinched.

"Will you stop fidgeting?" Peter whined.

"Just a bad day, mate." James explained, placing his elbows on the table.

"What happened?" Lily asked, curious. "Nothing too bad, I hope."

James looked at her for a moment and then gave a weak smile, "No, nothing that bad Evans."

"Good." the red head smiled. She was glad that he didn't brush her off. Their new found friendship had been strained ever since he started dating Angela.

Marlene looked between the two head students, a knowing look on her face. "I wonder what's taking Sirius and Remus so long" was all she said, however.

"It's getting close to Remus's time of the month." James said, causing Marlene to giggle. Peter and Lily exchanged meaningful glances – the full moon _was_ coming up soon.

After five more minutes of struggled conversation Sirius returned with the prefect at his side, talking low amongst their selves. They sat down side by side between James and Marlene, making the circle complete. "Hello Lily." Remus smiled.

"Hello Remus." She grinned back. It was the first time she's seen him all day. He was looking pretty rough around the edges but otherwise seemed fit. "You look well."

"As do you." He nodded, a knowing look in his eyes.

She remembered the day before when she'd sat in an empty transfiguration classroom telling him how much she hated Angela Bones. Lily blushed at the memory, turning away from the prefect. She cleared her throat, "Anyway, are we going to play this or not?"

Sirius's eyebrows went up at this, "A little excited there aren't you, Evans?"

"You have no idea." Merlin's beard, she needed a drink.

Sirius summoned six shot glasses and filled them all with firewhiskey. Lily placed hers in front of her and waited for someone to start. After a few seconds of silence James had rolled his eyes saying "For Agrippa's sake, I'll start." He picked up his shot glass and said "Never have I ever gotten detention" and took the shot. He poured himself another while everyone else took theirs.

The firewhiskey burned Lily's throat, making her gag. She really hated the taste of alcohol but the after effects were worth it.

Peter was next, squeaking out "Never have I ever ridden a broomstick" before taking his shot.

"Very wild choice there, Wormtail." Sirius sneered as he refilled his glass. "The point of the game I to say something that you think everyone hasn't done."

It was Lily's turn next. She looked down at the liquid in her glass, thinking of something to say. Finally she settled on "Never have I ever driven a car." She and Remus were the only ones who took their shots.

"See, that's how you play." Sirius informed the Peter. The smaller boy mumbled something about how he couldn't think well under pressure.

"Never have I ever gotten lost in Hogwarts." Marlene said, taking her shot. The only ones who didn't drink then were James and Sirius. Of course they've never been lost, Lily thought to herself, whenever they didn't know the way they just claimed they were exploring.

"Never have I ever snogged a girl." Sirius smirked, taking a drink. The only person who didn't drink then was Lily.

They all looked at Marlene surprised. "I was curious at one point." The smaller girl explained. "…I'm still a bit curious, actually."

"You should snog Lily then." Sirius suggested, wiggling his eyebrows.

Lily and Marlene glared at him. "That school boy fantasy isn't going to happen, Sirius." Lily said.

"We'll see if you say that after a few more shots." Sirius grinned.

"_Padfoot._" James warned, glaring at his best friend. "Don't push it."

"You're only saying that because you fancy-"

"I believe it's my turn!" Moony interrupted, lifting his glass and taking a drink.

"Mate, you're supposed to say something first." Sirius reminded him.

"Oh right…um…Never have I ever snuck around after hours." He poured himself another shot as everyone else took theirs.

The game continued on like that until words became slurred and vision was blurred. Marlene, it turned out, had done the most of anyone and took a shot almost every turn. Sirius was a close second, though, with Lily and James being tied for third. Peter, it seemed, hadn't done much of anything.

"Never have I ever pissed outside!" Sirius exclaimed, taking his shot. The rest of the Marauders followed suit causing the girls to giggle.

"Was there a big Marauders only camping trip I missed?" Marlene asked, giggling before they could answer.

"Oh, it was the biggest party." James played along, his face red. "We sang muggle songs and ate smores."

Lily, even in her hazy drunk state, found it hard to picture the group sitting around a camp fire singing. She laughed, even though her head was spinning. Her eyes flickered to James's smiling face and a blush rose to her cheeks. James caught her eye and winked, making her heart speed up.

"Never have I ever streaked around campus!" Remus howled, taking another shot. Everyone but Lily joined him. Again, questioning glances were shot and Marlene and she just shrugged as if to say "What can you do?"

"Never have I ever been in love." James said after a moment, taking a drink. No one else drank on it. Lily paused, wondering if she could drink on this one or not. On one hand she hadn't loved either of her two past boyfriends but on the other hand she got a fluttery feeling whenever she looked at James Potter. She had been considering for the past few month since school started that she could be falling for him – but had she? She looked over at the head boy- sitting back in his chair, his arm thrown over the back of it, his feet on the table. The answer was so clear to Lily in her boozy delusional fog –_yes, yes she had._ She threw her shot back triumphantly, much to the shock of everyone else at the table.

"Care to elaborate on that one, Evans?" James challenged, raising one eyebrow. He knows, Lily thought, he has to know.

"Nope." She answered defiantly.

"Oh for Merlin's sake!" Sirius exclaimed, looking between the two. He grabbed the bottle from the middle of the table and took a swig, "I dare you two to just snog already!"

"That's not the game we're playing." Lily pointed out, turning her glare onto the longhaired boy.

"Fine," Sirius rolled his eyes, setting the bottle back down. "Never have I ever kissed James Potter." No one took a drink, not even Marlene. Sirius looked around the table expectantly, before turning his gaze back to Lily. "No one's done it. You know what that means? Someone here has to in order for this to be a successful drinking game. I nominate Lily."

"That's not how the game works." Lily pointed out, panicking.

"It is when I play it." He shot back.

"I second that nomination." Marlene chimed in, snatching the bottle up and taking a swig of her own.

"Sure, what the hell." Peter added, taking the bottle from Marlene.

"I don't care." Remus admitted, pushing his glass away from him. "I'm done playing."

Lily risked a look at James and found him string at her. "What do you say, Evans, want to try it out?"

Yes. "But you're dating Angela." She remembered. She could never be drunk enough to forget that piece of information.

"But he loves you." Marlene insisted, pushing Lily from her chair. "Besides, what could one little kiss hurt?"

Lily found her feet carrying her over to James side of the table. Marlene had a point, what could it hurt? James looked up at her, his hazel eyes clouded. She reached out, her finger gripping at his shirt, and pulled him up. He stood, looking down at her, his expression confused. "I'm going to kiss you, James Potter. I've heard lots of good thing about this and I don't want to be disappointed." She slurred, pulling his face down to hers.

Their lips met and electricity shot down her spine, sobering her up almost immediately. She reached up, wrapping her arms around his neck. Her heart beat frantically in her chest, threatening to give out at any moment. There was no way this kiss was harmless. There was no way that this kiss meant nothing. He kissed her back forcefully, wrapping his arms around her waist. His tongue explored her mouth as his hands made their way up her back.

"Whoa." She heard Peter mutter beside her, the voice breaking the spell.

Lily jerked back quickly, pulling out of James's arms. "I have to go to bed." She said, panicked. Before anyone could stop her she rushed upstairs to the girls' dormitory and threw herself back on her bed, her fingers touching her tingling lips. She replayed the night's events again and again until morning and spent the next few days avoiding both James and Angela.

Yes, it was all Sirius's fault.


	2. Chapter 2

It was all Sirius's fault.

At least that's what James had decided on. After all, it had been the dark haired trouble maker who set the firewhiskey out, proposing a bit of celebration for the end of exams. It may have been Marlene who suggested a drinking game and it may have been Peter who suggested "Never Have I Ever"; but still, it was all Sirius's fault.

"Never have I ever?" James scoffed from his chair across from the fire. He looked at the smallest Marauder and rolled his eyes. "We're not fourth year, Wormtail." Besides, James thought, I'm not really in the mood for drinking games.

"I think it's a rather nice idea." Lily Evans said. James didn't want to look at her perched on the window seat, a book in her lap. He _did not._ Just hours earlier Angela Bones had stood in front of him accusing him of looking at Lily Evans far too much and he _would not_ prove her right by doing it just now. Of course he ended up glancing over at her anyway, just in time to see her smile at Wormtail.

She hadn't smiled much at him since he'd started dating Angela.

He quickly looked away, chastising himself for looking, choosing to stare into the fire instead. "It's settled then!" Sirius had exclaimed, causing James to start. He _did not_ agree to play. He looked around at the mostly empty common room and saw Marlene cheering and Lily grinning. Even Sirius can make her smile but I can't, he thought to himself.

James eyed his best friend bitterly. "Oh?" He challenged. Sirius knew very well what had happened that afternoon between James and Angela after Quidditch practice. Sirius knew that James wasn't in the mood to be messed with.

"Well, you're not going to go against Lily." Sirius shrugged, smirking at him. It seemed he was making good on his threat from earlier when he'd told James "Now that that Angela bird is out of the way I'm getting you and Evans together, you mark my words."

"He's got a point." Peter added, scooting closer to the table. James shifted his glare to the round boy.

James sat up in his chair, fixing both of his friends with death glares. "It's not like that" he and Lily said in unison. He stopped, surprised at her. He looked up, slightly embarrassed, to find her blushing face looking back at him.

"James doesn't care about me anymore." Lily explained, looking down at her lap. James stared at her, wondering what she was thinking. How could she think that? Hadn't he walked her to her classes the day before, holding her books? Hadn't he let her copy his transfiguration notes the other day? Hadn't he made it perfectly clear through every little action that he still loved her?

I did date Angela, he reminded himself, that's probably what she's referring to.

Though, he didn't think the relationship was what she thought it was. A week earlier Angela had approached him after potions and proposed they date so she could get over that Diggory bloke and he could get over Lily. It wasn't anything special. I hadn't been about love.

James found everyone looking at him, expecting a denial or confirmation of what Lily had said. "Lily doesn't make my choices." He said, clearing his throat and looking away. "But I'll play your stupid game anyway." He stood abruptly, hoping no one called him out on the fact he was only doin g this because Lily wanted to. He shot another curious look at Lily, once again wondering what she thought his feelings were, before walking to the table. He was very aware that Lily had followed him and decided to wait for her to take a seat before he sat down. It's best if I don't sit by her, he decided. Lily took the seat between Peter and Marlene which meant that James would have to take the seat to Peter's left.

Sirius shook his head at the seating arrangement but only said "I'm going to run up and fetch Moony" before shooting James a look that clearly said "get on with it" and heading downstairs to the boys' dormitory. The room filled with silence after Sirius left, which James found comforting. Silence left him to his thoughts. He decided that he should probably tell Lily that Angela had broken up with him – but how? He couldn't just assume that she would care. Odds are that she didn't. He supposed that he could just casually mention it, all offhanded like. His train of thought was interrupted by Marlene banging her nails on the table, causing James to flinch.

"Will you stop fidgeting?" Peter asked him. Whenever anyone fidgeted it automatically made Peter nervous.

"Just a bad day, mate." James said as an apology. He propped his elbows on the table and set his chin in his hands. "Bad day" was an understatement.

"What happened?" Lily asked, tucking a red curl behind her ear. "Nothing too bad, I hope."

James looked at her, realizing that this was his opening. All he had to say was "Angela broke up with me" and then maybe, just maybe, she'd smile at him. It was so simple. "Angela broke up with me and tossed all of my mistakes and character flaw in my face in front of the whole Quidditch team." It wasn't hard to say. He gave her a smile and said "No, nothing that bad Evans" because at the end of the day James was a bit chicken when it came to her. Although, who wouldn't be after years of getting turned down?

"Good." Lily smiled. James looked at her in shock; it seemed he didn't have to tell her about what had happened to earn her smile. He grinned back eagerly, happy to have her smiling at him again.

"I wonder what's taking Sirius and Remus so long." Marlene said, pulling James from his Lily themed thoughts.

James imagined that Remus was preparing for his transformation in a few days and in no mood for play. "It's getting close to Remus's time of the month." He explained, vaguely enough for Marlene to giggle but specific enough for Peter and Lily to get it.

Eventually Sirius and Remus joined them, talking to each other. James caught snippets of "…not feeling good, mate" and "we'll be there like always, Moony." Remus was looking well, his hair only slightly lank and his face still had most of its color. James found the days right before the full moon the hardest because if you paid enough attention you could see slight changes in Remus – the color left him, his eye lost their luster. They sat down side by side between James and Marlene, making the circle complete. James placed a hand on Remus's shoulder in greeting, giving it a squeeze.

Remus looked around the table and seemed a bit surprised to find Lily sitting there; she didn't usually play these games. "Hello Lily." He smiled.

"Hello Remus." The red head grinned at him. "You look well."

"As do you." The prefect nodded back, a strange look in his eyes. James looked between the two, wondering just what was going on there. For a second or two he wondered if they had feelings for each other before deciding that he was reading way too much into their exchange. But then Lily blushed and turned away from Moony, bringing James's suspicions back. He'd have to have a talk with Moony after this was over.

"Anyway, are we going to play this or not?" Lily asked, clearing her throat.

Sirius's raised his eyebrows, "A little excited there aren't you, Evans?" He winked at her but she didn't see, she was looking down at her hands.

"You have no idea." She said mysteriously. James wondered what had happened to her that day.

Sirius summoned six shot glasses and filled them all with firewhiskey. James took his and placed it in front of him. They sat in silence for a few seconds as everyone waited for someone else to start. Sirius looked up and gave his best friend a nod, telling him to do it. Finally, James rolled his eyes and said "For Agrippa's sake, I'll start." He picked up his shot glass and said "Never have I ever gotten detention" before taking his shot. He poured himself another as everyone else took theirs. Sirius shook his head disapprovingly. What the bloody hell does he want from me? James wondered, feeling very much like Sirius was having a one sided conversation. What did he expect from this game?

"Never have I ever ridden a broomstick." Peter's voice rang out to James's right. James rolled his eyes, of course Peter would pick something everyone had done.

"Very wild choice there, Wormtail." Sirius mocked. "The point of the game I to say something that you think everyone hasn't done."

James looked down at the table, eyeing Lily expectantly and realized that Sirius was doing the same. "Never have I ever driven a car." She said after a minute. Sirius made a face; it obviously wasn't what he had wanted her to say.

Shaking his head, Sirius put on a forced smile and told Peter: "See, that's how you play." The smaller boy mumbled something about how he couldn't think well under pressure, a fact that Sirius already knew.

"Never have I ever gotten lost in Hogwarts." Marlene giggled, taking her shot. James was beginning to notice that Marlene was the giggly type of girl who was easily impressed.

"Never have I ever snogged a girl." Sirius said, taking his shot. Of course Sirius would say something like that, no shock there. The real shock was that Marlene took a shot too. The marauders eyed her curiously.

"I was curious at one point." She explained. Oh yes, defiantly the giggle type. "…I'm still a bit curious, actually."

As interesting as that sounded, James knew that it was the type of incentive Sirius needed to start causing trouble. "You should snog Lily then." Sirius suggested, wiggling his eyebrows. Let's see how well that goes over, James thought.

Lily and Marlene, of course, glared at him. "That school boy fantasy isn't going to happen, Sirius." Lily informed him.

"We'll see if you say that after a few more shots." Sirius pushed it. Sometimes he just didn't know when to quit.

"Padfoot." James warned, glaring at his best friend. "Don't push it." He knew how Lily was, anything bad Sirius did automatically got associated with James. He'd finally gotten Lily to smile at him, he didn't need his mate messing it up.

Sirius brushed off James's warning, saying "You're only saying that because you fancy-"

"I believe it's my turn!" Moony interrupted, lifting his glass and taking a drink. James shot his friend a thankful look.

"Mate, you're supposed to say something first." Sirius reminded him, sufficiently distracted from his mission.

"Oh right…um…Never have I ever snuck around after hours." Moony said, pouring himself another drink. He gave James a small smile that clearly said "you're welcome."

The game continued on like that for over an hour, with Peter making weak comments and Sirius making suggestive ones. Eventually everyone was talking in slurred fragments and Marlene thought everything was the funniest thing she'd ever heard. James made a mental note to never drink with her again.

"Never have I ever pissed outside!" Sirius took his shot. The rest of the Marauders followed suit causing the girls to giggle. Gross, but true.

"Was there a big Marauders only camping trip I missed?" Marlene asked, giggling. James really hated her laugh.

"Oh, it was the biggest party." James decided to humor her, his voice only slightly slurred. "We sang muggle songs and ate smores." He looked down the table at Lily, who was the quietest of them all. She had surprisingly done more things than Remus and Peter. Maybe there was a wild side to Lily that he didn't' know about. Lily look up, catching him staring, and he winked at her.

Merlin, she was beautiful when she blushed like that.

Her red curls fells around her face, framing her pale skin. Her green eyes were bright and alive, making the fact she was drunk extremely obvious. She laughed often and loudly, but not in the annoying way that Marlene did, but in a muted way. Her red lipstick was slightly smudged, making James long to reach out and fix it. He wondered what it would be like to run his finger over those carefully made-up lips, to snake his fingers into that wild red hair, and press his lips to hers.

It was only when everyone else raised their glasses for a drink that James realized that Remus had said anything. Acting like he had heard James took a shot. It was his turn. He had an idea. "Never have I ever been in love." He said, taking his shot. He reclined back in his seat and propped his feet on the table, the picture of nonchalance. Everyone sat there uncomfortable, leaving their glasses untouched. Sirius eyed him approvingly; apparently things like this was what he had wanted. James looked down at Lily, wondering what she would do. She was looking at him, that was a good sign right? She gave a small smile and slammed her shot back too. Oh, yes, this was good.

"Care to elaborate on that one, Evans?" He asked, smirking. He wanted the answer, he _needed_ the answer. He had to mean that she loved him, right? That was a declaration, it _had_ to be.

"Nope." She answered, looking away.

Not fair, Evans, not fair.

"Oh for Merlin's sake!" Sirius exclaimed, looking between the two. Apparently now that the game had accomplished what he had wanted he was done playing it. He grabbed the bottle from the middle of the table and took a swig, "I dare you two to just snog already!"

"That's not the game we're playing." Lily pointed out, turning to glare at him.

James had seen that look in Sirius's eye before and he didn't know what was about to happen but he knew that he was either going to love it or hate it.

"Fine." Sirius said. Well, challenge accepted. "Never have I ever kissed James Potter." He said, glaring at Lily. No one took a drink, obviously, since James didn't go around snogging his best friends and Marlene was just _not _his type. Sirius raised one eyebrow at Lily, "No one's done it. You know what that means? Someone here has to in order for this to be a successful drinking game. I nominate Lily."

"That's not how the game works." Lily pointed out, clearly panicked. James wondered if it was the idea of kissing him or the idea that she might be in love with him that frightened her.

"It is when I play it." Sirius retorted, leaning back in his chair with his hands behind his head.

"I second that nomination." Marlene chimed in, snatching the bottle up and taking a swig of her own. Thank Merlin for happy drunk Marlene.

James wanted this. He wanted Lily to kiss him. It was something that he'd fantasized about since at least third year.

"Sure, what the hell." Peter added, taking the bottle from Marlene. He nudged James in the ribs to drive to point that he was helping him home.

"I don't care." Remus admitted, pushing his glass away from him. He looked at Prongs and said "I'm done playing." He didn't handle liquor well on his good days, and this certainly wasn't a good day.

Lily looked at him and he gave his most charming smile. "What do you say, Evans, want to try it out?" He wanted her to say yes more than anything. He wanted his lips on hers. He wanted to feel her pressed against him. Oh, Merlin did he want it.

"But you're dating Angela." She said, her green eyes downcast. I should've told her earlier, he chastised himself. He opened his mouth to do it then but Marlene interrupted him, saying "But he loves you. Besides, what could one little kiss hurt?" and pushing Lily out of her seat.

Lily made her way across the table to him, her moves lacking their normal grace. She stumbled over the leg of Peter's chair, straightened herself, and looked down at him. James's heart pounded in his chest as she reached down and pulled him up. He could barely believe it as she slurred out "I'm going to kiss you, James Potter. I've heard lots of good thing about this and I don't want to be disappointed." Finally, their lips met.

Oh, he was not going to disappoint her. She reached up, wrapping her arms around his neck. He threw himself into the kiss, prying her mouth open and letting his tongue explore her mouth. He wrapped his arms around her waist, pulling her closer. He wanted to feel her against every plain of his body. He was kissing _Lily Evans_, the girl he'd wanted his entire life. His hands made their way up her back to snake themselves in that beautiful hair of hers. She knew just how to drive him crazy, as she kissed him back. Her hands slid down, flattening out on his chest. He never wanted this moment to end. He could happily spend the rest of his life kissing Lily Evans and never complain.

"Whoa." Peter said, staring at them, his mouth agape.

The sound seemed to pull Lily to her senses as she disentangled from his arms and ran upstairs without so much as a horrified look at him. James stood there, gasping for breath, the taste of Lily sill on his lips. He looked around at everyone else in the room and grinned. "I just kissed Lily Evans." He said triumphantly.

"I know, Prongs." Sirius smiled over at him.

James smiled at his best friend. He had just kissed Lily Evans and it was all Sirius's fault.


End file.
